Time Share Presentations Vallarta

Puerto Vallarta is famous for time share presentations and not in a good way. Thankfully, things have changed for the better in the last few years. The first encounter you will have with timeshare sales is at the airport. When you get off the plane you will go through immegration where they verify your passport/documents. From there, you will go to baggage claim, collect all of your bags and follow the crowds to the customs area. You load your bags onto the X-ray machines and push the button. It is a ramdom selection process. If you get a green light, you are free to go on your way and to your destination. If you get a red light, you and your party (you only push the button once per group) will take all of your bags over to the table where they will open them and search. We have gotten red twice. They did a cursory check of the bags and asked us a few question, "any meat products or produce? Where are you staying?" and such. It was pretty painless although watching all of the groups that got green lights brisk past us was more painful. Once you pass customs there will be bellmen that will help with your bags. I recommend you take advantage of the hospitality, but remember that most of these gracious people work for tips alone. Whether or not you accept assistance the next stage is where you will be bombarded by time share salespeople disguised as many things. This is called "THE GAUNTLET". There are two sets of sliding glass doors EVERYONE in this are is selling timeshares. They pretend to be car rentals, resort representatives and other things. They aren't. This area is designated for timeshares. If you prearrange a tour or are not interested, stay in the middle, don't make eye contact and keep walking until you get through the other glass doors. It's not as far as it feels and if you get through without being snatched you can feel a true sense of pride. You can get the best tours by prearranging a presentation before you get to PV. If you are interested in owning a time share there are a couple that are honest and not overly pushy. We are extremely happy with our purchase at Paradise Village. It is not the newest resort but it is continually upgraded. The maintenance fees are less than half of some other resorts because the owner has no debt. He owns the property outright. Our brother owns at Flamingos and is very happy there. It is a bit more expensive but has some interesting accelerated use options. I would stay away from the Mayan properties.  We went to a presentation there and ended up calling our attorney. What they offered was not what they delivered. They were extremely hard sell and we were there 4 hours instead of 90 minutes. I know many people who have had similar experiences and sales people who left there because they were instructed to lie to customers. We have one family member that owns there and if you decide it buy you will want to ask about the use of the property. They sell you the Grand Mayan, but only let you stay in that building every 5 years. Each building has different outside areas and you can't crossover. So, if you are interested in doing some activities , make sure you know what you want to do before you get there. Some of the better tours (and topics of another blog are #Rhythms of the Night and the #Pirate Show. Some of the not so good tours are The City Tour and The Jungle Tour. My favorite was the luxury sailing and the trip the the Marietta's. Truly spectacular.

About owning a timeshare. It is an investment in your vacations for years to come. It's a way to lock in prices for many years. We are extremely happy with Paradise Village and the exchange company #Interval International. They will ask you what's important in a time share and when I purchased I never would have said trading power but since Paradise Village trades so high sometimes we get two or three weeks somewhere else for the week we trade. Usually we just use our weeks in PV so trading wasn't something we needed, but it has been a nice benefit anyway. My suggestion is that you add up all of the costs of the purchase (including maintenance fees) and divide by the number of years. If it seems like a fair price for a vacation and you can afford it, then it is the way to go. You get a lot of benefits that aren't immediately obvious. Otherwise, don't give them a reason that you're not interested. They have any answer for everything. Just say, "I'm not interested" "I'm just not interested", then get your gifts and go.